1 00:00:01,360 --> 00:00:04,280 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff you missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,440 --> 00:00:11,000 Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. 3 00:00:12,000 --> 00:00:15,280 Speaker 2: Hello and welcome to the podcast. I'm Tracey V. Wilson 4 00:00:15,440 --> 00:00:18,560 Speaker 2: and I'm Holly Frye. This is part two of our 5 00:00:18,600 --> 00:00:21,880 Speaker 2: episode on Horace Walpole, in which we will finally get 6 00:00:21,960 --> 00:00:25,720 Speaker 2: to all the Gothic horror, Gothic castles, Gothic everything that 7 00:00:25,800 --> 00:00:28,600 Speaker 2: we promised in part one and did not talk about 8 00:00:29,320 --> 00:00:32,160 Speaker 2: at all, starting basically now. 9 00:00:33,200 --> 00:00:37,040 Speaker 1: In seventeen forty six, Horace Walpole leased a villa in Twickenham, 10 00:00:37,040 --> 00:00:41,200 Speaker 1: which is today considered part of Greater London. At the time, 11 00:00:41,320 --> 00:00:45,400 Speaker 1: this villa was known locally as Chopped Straw Hall and 12 00:00:45,440 --> 00:00:48,600 Speaker 1: it had been built in sixteen ninety eight. The local 13 00:00:48,680 --> 00:00:51,320 Speaker 1: lore around it was that its original builder had been 14 00:00:51,360 --> 00:00:53,800 Speaker 1: a coachman who had made enough money for the house 15 00:00:54,200 --> 00:00:57,680 Speaker 1: by selling all the good hay while feeding chopped straw 16 00:00:57,760 --> 00:01:02,440 Speaker 1: to his employer's horses instead. Old paperwork gave the name 17 00:01:02,480 --> 00:01:05,480 Speaker 1: of the land that it sat on as Strawberry Hill Shot, 18 00:01:05,560 --> 00:01:07,920 Speaker 1: which is where Walpole got the name for the house. 19 00:01:08,160 --> 00:01:09,920 Speaker 1: He called it Strawberry Hill. 20 00:01:10,840 --> 00:01:15,360 Speaker 2: When Walpole found this house, it belonged to Elizabeth Deard's Shnevis, 21 00:01:15,400 --> 00:01:19,000 Speaker 2: who was the wife of toy maker Paul Daniel Shenevicks, 22 00:01:19,040 --> 00:01:23,480 Speaker 2: and also the daughter of toymaker William Deard's. She was 23 00:01:23,520 --> 00:01:27,560 Speaker 2: also a toy maker in her own right. Walpole described 24 00:01:27,560 --> 00:01:32,400 Speaker 2: her as Missus Shenevick's, the famous toy woman. Walpole finished 25 00:01:32,400 --> 00:01:34,840 Speaker 2: out a lease on the house before buying it a 26 00:01:34,880 --> 00:01:36,040 Speaker 2: couple of years later. 27 00:01:36,920 --> 00:01:39,639 Speaker 1: His plan from the start was to turn this small 28 00:01:39,640 --> 00:01:43,440 Speaker 1: house on five acres of land into a Gothic castle 29 00:01:43,520 --> 00:01:46,959 Speaker 1: with its own gardens. This plan doesn't seem to have 30 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:49,640 Speaker 1: come as a surprise to the people who knew him. 31 00:01:49,960 --> 00:01:52,880 Speaker 1: In the words of Dorothy Margaret Stewart, quote, it was 32 00:01:52,920 --> 00:01:56,160 Speaker 1: inevitable that Walpole should buy a little house somewhere and 33 00:01:56,240 --> 00:01:58,640 Speaker 1: make a plaything of it, and cram it with bric 34 00:01:58,680 --> 00:02:01,600 Speaker 1: a brac. That he should conceived the idea of making 35 00:02:01,640 --> 00:02:05,520 Speaker 1: its roof bristle with many pinnacles, and its sealing's unfurrol 36 00:02:05,600 --> 00:02:09,680 Speaker 1: much fan tracery is perhaps no matter for wonder, but 37 00:02:09,760 --> 00:02:13,440 Speaker 1: it is matter for thankfulness, since this conception of his 38 00:02:13,680 --> 00:02:17,000 Speaker 1: was destined to exert a singular influence upon the most 39 00:02:17,040 --> 00:02:20,760 Speaker 1: salutary of all the intellectual movements that mark the second 40 00:02:20,800 --> 00:02:24,120 Speaker 1: half of his century. The return to Romance. 41 00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:28,120 Speaker 2: I think this is one of the many passages in 42 00:02:28,160 --> 00:02:31,120 Speaker 2: which Dorothy Margaret Stewart comes off to me as both 43 00:02:31,680 --> 00:02:38,560 Speaker 2: complimentary to Walpole and also kind of backhandedly judging. Novelist 44 00:02:38,639 --> 00:02:42,560 Speaker 2: Clara Reeve, whose book The Old English Baron was inspired 45 00:02:42,600 --> 00:02:45,760 Speaker 2: by Walpole's The Castle of a Toronto, included a brief 46 00:02:45,840 --> 00:02:50,080 Speaker 2: memoir of him in a combined edition of their two books, 47 00:02:50,480 --> 00:02:54,520 Speaker 2: and in it she wrote, quote, mister Walpole's domestic occupations, 48 00:02:54,560 --> 00:02:57,840 Speaker 2: as well as his studies, bore evidence of a taste 49 00:02:57,880 --> 00:03:03,079 Speaker 2: for English antiquities, which was then uncommon. He loved as 50 00:03:03,120 --> 00:03:07,040 Speaker 2: a satirist, has expressed it to gaze on Gothic toys 51 00:03:07,160 --> 00:03:11,280 Speaker 2: through Gothic glass in The villa at Strawberry Hill, which 52 00:03:11,320 --> 00:03:15,040 Speaker 2: he chose for his abode, gradually swelled into a feudal 53 00:03:15,120 --> 00:03:19,959 Speaker 2: castle by the addition of turrets, towers, galleries and corridors, 54 00:03:20,200 --> 00:03:25,240 Speaker 2: whose fretted roofs, carved panels, and illuminated windows were garnished 55 00:03:25,280 --> 00:03:31,480 Speaker 2: with the appropriate furniture of Sutchen's armorial bearings, shields, tilting lances, 56 00:03:31,840 --> 00:03:34,800 Speaker 2: and all the paniply of chivalry. 57 00:03:35,240 --> 00:03:38,400 Speaker 1: A big part of the planning and execution on Walpole's 58 00:03:38,400 --> 00:03:42,400 Speaker 1: expansion of this house into a castle was his quote 59 00:03:42,440 --> 00:03:45,920 Speaker 1: Committee of Taste, which was made up of Walpole, architect 60 00:03:46,000 --> 00:03:50,560 Speaker 1: John Shute, and designer Richard Bentley. Walpole added a library 61 00:03:50,680 --> 00:03:55,320 Speaker 1: and a refractory in seventeen fifty three, a gallery, round tower, 62 00:03:55,520 --> 00:04:00,280 Speaker 1: great cloister and cabinet in seventeen sixty and seventeen sixty one, 63 00:04:00,400 --> 00:04:04,280 Speaker 1: a grand bedchamber in seventeen seventy and another tower in 64 00:04:04,360 --> 00:04:10,280 Speaker 1: seventeen seventy six. There were multiple guest bedrooms. Strawberry Hill 65 00:04:10,400 --> 00:04:14,600 Speaker 1: also had china cabinets, a pantry, cellars for wine and beer, 66 00:04:14,760 --> 00:04:19,120 Speaker 1: a kitchen, an armory, and servants quarters. He more than 67 00:04:19,200 --> 00:04:21,880 Speaker 1: doubled the size of the house, adding on turrets and 68 00:04:21,920 --> 00:04:26,360 Speaker 1: embellishments and a lot of stained glass windows. He eventually 69 00:04:26,400 --> 00:04:29,600 Speaker 1: installed a printing press, and the works he printed included 70 00:04:29,640 --> 00:04:31,719 Speaker 1: the poetry of his friend Thomas Gray. 71 00:04:32,760 --> 00:04:36,159 Speaker 2: He also traveled all over parts of rural England to 72 00:04:36,279 --> 00:04:40,039 Speaker 2: buy things to fill and decorate this castle with. In 73 00:04:40,120 --> 00:04:43,360 Speaker 2: the words of L. B. Seely quote as chamber. After 74 00:04:43,480 --> 00:04:47,000 Speaker 2: chamber was added to the castle, it became Walpole's next 75 00:04:47,120 --> 00:04:53,120 Speaker 2: care to fill them with fresh antiques. In furniture pictures bronzes, armor, 76 00:04:53,440 --> 00:04:58,440 Speaker 2: painted glass, and other like articles. Over time, Walpole amassed 77 00:04:58,480 --> 00:05:04,039 Speaker 2: a collection of more than four four thousand paintings, figurines, enamels, 78 00:05:04,080 --> 00:05:08,600 Speaker 2: books and artifacts. Walpole thought the collection of miniatures and 79 00:05:08,720 --> 00:05:12,440 Speaker 2: enamels in particular was the finest in all of England. 80 00:05:13,520 --> 00:05:15,960 Speaker 1: At one point during all of this work, in seventeen 81 00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:19,440 Speaker 1: sixty two, there was a labor dispute, which Walpole wrote 82 00:05:19,440 --> 00:05:22,640 Speaker 1: about in one of his letters. Quote, last Saturday night 83 00:05:22,720 --> 00:05:25,880 Speaker 1: my workmen took their leave, made their bow and left 84 00:05:25,880 --> 00:05:29,279 Speaker 1: me up to the knees in shavings. In short, the 85 00:05:29,400 --> 00:05:33,000 Speaker 1: journeyman carpenters, like the cabinet makers, have entered into an 86 00:05:33,040 --> 00:05:37,120 Speaker 1: association not to work unless their wages are raised. And 87 00:05:37,200 --> 00:05:40,520 Speaker 1: how can one complain the poor fellows who's all the 88 00:05:40,600 --> 00:05:44,120 Speaker 1: labor is, see their masters advance their prices every day 89 00:05:44,440 --> 00:05:48,880 Speaker 1: and think it reasonable to touch their share. Strawberry Hill 90 00:05:49,040 --> 00:05:52,920 Speaker 1: wasn't meant just for Walpole's personal lodgings. It was also 91 00:05:53,080 --> 00:05:55,960 Speaker 1: open for tours when he was not in London for 92 00:05:56,000 --> 00:05:59,279 Speaker 1: the season, and it was open during that time between 93 00:05:59,279 --> 00:06:03,159 Speaker 1: the hours of noon and three for prominent people. He 94 00:06:03,279 --> 00:06:06,360 Speaker 1: led these tours himself, but everybody else got led through 95 00:06:06,400 --> 00:06:09,520 Speaker 1: by the housekeeper after paying a guinea to do it. 96 00:06:09,680 --> 00:06:10,840 Speaker 1: I love everything about this. 97 00:06:11,279 --> 00:06:12,719 Speaker 2: I am enamored, yes. 98 00:06:13,760 --> 00:06:15,680 Speaker 1: And he wrote a guide book for all of this. 99 00:06:15,880 --> 00:06:19,680 Speaker 1: It's called A Description of the Villa of mister Horace Walpole, 100 00:06:20,080 --> 00:06:23,560 Speaker 1: youngest son of Sir Robert Walpole, Earl of Orford, at 101 00:06:23,560 --> 00:06:30,160 Speaker 1: Strawberry Hill, near Twickenham, Middlesex, with an inventory of the furniture, pictures, curiosities, etc. 102 00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:33,640 Speaker 1: And it begins quote, it will look I fear a 103 00:06:33,680 --> 00:06:36,599 Speaker 1: little like arrogance in a private man to give a 104 00:06:36,640 --> 00:06:40,279 Speaker 1: printed description of his villa and collection in which almost 105 00:06:40,360 --> 00:06:45,320 Speaker 1: everything is diminutive. It is, not, however, intended for public sale, 106 00:06:45,680 --> 00:06:48,720 Speaker 1: and originally was meant only to assist those who should 107 00:06:48,800 --> 00:06:53,600 Speaker 1: visit the place. His description of a person's first entrance 108 00:06:53,720 --> 00:06:57,080 Speaker 1: into Strawberry Hill in this guide goes like this quote. 109 00:06:57,520 --> 00:07:01,560 Speaker 1: You first enter a small, gloomy hall, paved with hexagon 110 00:07:01,680 --> 00:07:06,080 Speaker 1: tiles and lighted by two narrow windows of painted glass 111 00:07:06,160 --> 00:07:10,680 Speaker 1: representing Saint John and Saint Francis. This hall is united 112 00:07:10,720 --> 00:07:14,000 Speaker 1: with the staircase, and both are hung with Gothic paper 113 00:07:14,400 --> 00:07:18,160 Speaker 1: painted by one tutor from the screen of Prince Arthur's 114 00:07:18,200 --> 00:07:22,360 Speaker 1: tomb in the Cathedral of Worcester. The balustrade was designed 115 00:07:22,360 --> 00:07:26,440 Speaker 1: by mister Bentley. At every corner is an antelope one 116 00:07:26,480 --> 00:07:30,480 Speaker 1: of Lord Orford's supporters holding a shield. In the well 117 00:07:30,520 --> 00:07:33,560 Speaker 1: of the staircase by a cord of black and yellow 118 00:07:33,640 --> 00:07:38,640 Speaker 1: hangs a gothic lantern of ting Japan, designed by mister 119 00:07:38,720 --> 00:07:42,120 Speaker 1: Bentley and filled with painted glass. The door of it 120 00:07:42,200 --> 00:07:45,520 Speaker 1: has an old pane with the arms of their Earl 121 00:07:45,560 --> 00:07:49,880 Speaker 1: of Oxford. From there, the guidebook walks through all the rooms, 122 00:07:50,000 --> 00:07:53,000 Speaker 1: noting what's in each of them, along with some drawings 123 00:07:53,040 --> 00:07:55,400 Speaker 1: of the castle and the features within it, like the 124 00:07:55,440 --> 00:07:59,440 Speaker 1: details of the fireplaces. This includes a list of all 125 00:07:59,480 --> 00:08:03,320 Speaker 1: the china in the china room. It also includes descriptions 126 00:08:03,360 --> 00:08:05,760 Speaker 1: of the chapel and the cottage and the flower garden 127 00:08:05,800 --> 00:08:08,160 Speaker 1: that were part of the grounds, and a list of 128 00:08:08,240 --> 00:08:11,320 Speaker 1: material printed at Strawberry Hill. I should recall he had 129 00:08:11,360 --> 00:08:15,360 Speaker 1: a printing press. There are also floor plans and appendices 130 00:08:15,400 --> 00:08:17,800 Speaker 1: and editions of things that had been added to the 131 00:08:17,840 --> 00:08:21,240 Speaker 1: house after the guide was originally printed. As I was 132 00:08:21,280 --> 00:08:22,960 Speaker 1: reading this, I was like, Okay, I'm at the end. 133 00:08:22,960 --> 00:08:25,000 Speaker 1: Why are there still so many more pages than it was? 134 00:08:25,160 --> 00:08:29,640 Speaker 1: Multiple additional adenda of lists of things that had been 135 00:08:29,680 --> 00:08:33,000 Speaker 1: added to the house. In terms of like the collections, 136 00:08:33,040 --> 00:08:34,200 Speaker 1: not the physical structure. 137 00:08:35,160 --> 00:08:38,960 Speaker 2: This house is described as almost the opposite of his 138 00:08:39,160 --> 00:08:44,319 Speaker 2: father's neoclassical estate of Houghton Hall. Dorothy Margaret Stewart put 139 00:08:44,320 --> 00:08:48,120 Speaker 2: it this way. Quote anything less Gothic than Houghton it 140 00:08:48,160 --> 00:08:52,760 Speaker 2: would be impossible to conceive. And Strawberry Hill sparked a 141 00:08:52,800 --> 00:08:57,000 Speaker 2: revival in Gothic architecture, which mostly took place in the UK, 142 00:08:57,160 --> 00:09:00,640 Speaker 2: but also inspired some buildings in the US and elsewhere 143 00:09:00,720 --> 00:09:03,880 Speaker 2: as well. Some of these elements were also part of 144 00:09:04,040 --> 00:09:08,439 Speaker 2: Georgian architecture more broadly, that period, of course, being named 145 00:09:08,800 --> 00:09:11,840 Speaker 2: for the time in British history spanning the reins from 146 00:09:11,920 --> 00:09:16,359 Speaker 2: King George the First through the fourth, but Gothic architecture, 147 00:09:16,520 --> 00:09:19,840 Speaker 2: sometimes spelled with a K at the end, included a 148 00:09:19,920 --> 00:09:23,760 Speaker 2: lot of decorative motifs that harkened back to the medieval period, 149 00:09:23,920 --> 00:09:28,199 Speaker 2: lots and lots of turrets and spires and stained glass. 150 00:09:28,240 --> 00:09:32,000 Speaker 2: This trend continued into the nineteenth century and eventually became 151 00:09:32,080 --> 00:09:37,839 Speaker 2: known as Victorian Gothic. Walpole eventually started calling Strawberry Hill 152 00:09:38,200 --> 00:09:41,920 Speaker 2: his a Toronto, and his most famous novel was interconnected 153 00:09:41,960 --> 00:09:44,560 Speaker 2: with his personal castle, and we'll get into all of 154 00:09:44,600 --> 00:09:57,000 Speaker 2: that after a sponsor break. Although The Castle of a 155 00:09:57,080 --> 00:10:00,720 Speaker 2: Toronto is Horace Walpole's most famous work today, it was 156 00:10:00,800 --> 00:10:03,600 Speaker 2: not his first work to be published, or the only 157 00:10:03,640 --> 00:10:07,800 Speaker 2: one at all. He had written various poems and essays, 158 00:10:07,920 --> 00:10:11,959 Speaker 2: some of which criticized the British government and were published anonymously. 159 00:10:12,760 --> 00:10:16,600 Speaker 2: In seventeen fifty seven he published a pamphlet called A 160 00:10:16,720 --> 00:10:20,240 Speaker 2: Letter from Choho, a Chinese philosopher at London, to his 161 00:10:20,400 --> 00:10:24,880 Speaker 2: friend Lan Chi at picking So. Walpole had developed an 162 00:10:24,880 --> 00:10:28,439 Speaker 2: interest in Chinese history and culture while studying at Cambridge, 163 00:10:28,720 --> 00:10:32,200 Speaker 2: and this was written from the perspective of one Chinese 164 00:10:32,280 --> 00:10:35,760 Speaker 2: man writing to another, but it was really a commentary 165 00:10:35,840 --> 00:10:39,760 Speaker 2: on what Walpole saw as the cruelty of the English government. 166 00:10:40,559 --> 00:10:43,480 Speaker 2: This followed the execution of Admiral John Bing during the 167 00:10:43,520 --> 00:10:47,320 Speaker 2: Seven Years' War. Bing's squadron had been ordered to keep 168 00:10:47,320 --> 00:10:50,440 Speaker 2: the French from capturing Minorca and had failed to do so. 169 00:10:51,360 --> 00:10:54,320 Speaker 2: Bing was court martialed and found guilty under the twelfth 170 00:10:54,400 --> 00:10:57,480 Speaker 2: Article of War, which placed a penalty of death on 171 00:10:57,640 --> 00:11:01,160 Speaker 2: anyone who did not quote do his utmost to take 172 00:11:01,280 --> 00:11:04,440 Speaker 2: or destroy every ship which it shall be his duty 173 00:11:04,480 --> 00:11:09,640 Speaker 2: to engage. Walpole strongly opposed a decision to execute being, 174 00:11:10,000 --> 00:11:12,560 Speaker 2: and when he failed to save the admiral wrote this 175 00:11:12,679 --> 00:11:17,280 Speaker 2: letter in response, appropriating a Chinese persona to criticize both 176 00:11:17,320 --> 00:11:22,120 Speaker 2: the English as a people and the execution specifically. In 177 00:11:22,160 --> 00:11:27,200 Speaker 2: seventeen sixty two, Walpole started publishing Anecdotes of painting in England, 178 00:11:27,280 --> 00:11:30,640 Speaker 2: with some account of the principal artists and incidental notes 179 00:11:30,640 --> 00:11:34,360 Speaker 2: on other arts, collected by the late mister George Virtue 180 00:11:34,760 --> 00:11:38,520 Speaker 2: and now digested and published from his original manuscripts by 181 00:11:38,600 --> 00:11:42,760 Speaker 2: mister Horace Walpole. This was a work on British art 182 00:11:42,800 --> 00:11:46,360 Speaker 2: history that would come out in multiple volumes over the 183 00:11:46,400 --> 00:11:50,480 Speaker 2: subsequent decades. As its name suggests, it was expanded from 184 00:11:50,640 --> 00:11:54,560 Speaker 2: unpublished notebooks that had been kept by engraver and antiquary 185 00:11:54,679 --> 00:11:58,840 Speaker 2: George Virtue, and Walpole had purchased those notebooks. This was 186 00:11:58,880 --> 00:12:01,800 Speaker 2: a really ambitition work. It was one that was meant 187 00:12:01,800 --> 00:12:05,960 Speaker 2: to provide a thorough account of British art history, and 188 00:12:06,080 --> 00:12:09,959 Speaker 2: it is still cited as a useful history of British art. 189 00:12:10,720 --> 00:12:14,240 Speaker 1: In seventeen sixty three as the biggest additions to Strawberry 190 00:12:14,320 --> 00:12:18,320 Speaker 1: Hill were nearing completion, Walpole wrote The Castle of a Toronto. 191 00:12:19,200 --> 00:12:21,560 Speaker 1: Here's how he described this work in a letter to 192 00:12:21,600 --> 00:12:25,199 Speaker 1: the Reverend William Cole quote. I waked one morning in 193 00:12:25,280 --> 00:12:28,120 Speaker 1: the beginning of last June from a dream of which 194 00:12:28,240 --> 00:12:31,199 Speaker 1: all I could recover was that I had thought myself 195 00:12:31,240 --> 00:12:34,560 Speaker 1: in an ancient castle, a very natural dream for a 196 00:12:34,559 --> 00:12:37,640 Speaker 1: head filled like mine with Gothic story, and that on 197 00:12:37,679 --> 00:12:41,080 Speaker 1: the uppermost banister of a great staircase I saw a 198 00:12:41,120 --> 00:12:45,040 Speaker 1: gigantic hand in armor. In the evening, I sat down 199 00:12:45,120 --> 00:12:47,440 Speaker 1: and began to write, without knowing in the least what 200 00:12:47,520 --> 00:12:50,640 Speaker 1: I intended to say or relate. The work grew on 201 00:12:50,720 --> 00:12:53,320 Speaker 1: my hands, and I grew fond of it, ad that 202 00:12:53,400 --> 00:12:56,679 Speaker 1: I was very glad to think of anything rather than politics. 203 00:12:57,280 --> 00:13:00,160 Speaker 1: In short, I was so engrossed with my tale, which 204 00:13:00,200 --> 00:13:03,000 Speaker 1: I completed in less than two months, that one evening 205 00:13:03,120 --> 00:13:05,240 Speaker 1: I wrote from the time I had drunk my tea 206 00:13:05,320 --> 00:13:08,240 Speaker 1: about six o'clock till half an hour after one in 207 00:13:08,280 --> 00:13:11,319 Speaker 1: the morning, when my hand and fingers were so weary 208 00:13:11,600 --> 00:13:14,360 Speaker 1: that I could not hold the pen to finish the sentence. 209 00:13:15,240 --> 00:13:18,440 Speaker 2: This book was published on Christmas Eve, seventeen sixty four, 210 00:13:18,640 --> 00:13:22,319 Speaker 2: initially without Walpole's name on it, and also not at 211 00:13:22,320 --> 00:13:26,080 Speaker 2: the press at Strawberry Hill. The premise was that this 212 00:13:26,320 --> 00:13:31,120 Speaker 2: was a translation of a found manuscript, that manuscript originally 213 00:13:31,160 --> 00:13:34,440 Speaker 2: written in Italian and dating back to fifteen twenty nine, 214 00:13:34,520 --> 00:13:38,440 Speaker 2: and also containing an even earlier work, and in that 215 00:13:38,480 --> 00:13:42,400 Speaker 2: first edition not published at Strawberry Hill, not with Walpole's name. 216 00:13:42,440 --> 00:13:46,000 Speaker 2: There were definitely readers who thought this framing device was 217 00:13:46,120 --> 00:13:49,840 Speaker 2: the real story of where this manuscript had come from. 218 00:13:50,200 --> 00:13:54,120 Speaker 1: The novel itself was set in medieval Naples during the Crusades, 219 00:13:54,440 --> 00:13:58,240 Speaker 1: and it blended elements of mystery, horror, and the supernatural. 220 00:13:58,920 --> 00:14:01,720 Speaker 1: It told the story of a family that inhabited the castle, 221 00:14:02,040 --> 00:14:05,000 Speaker 1: and this family was the subject of an ancient prophecy 222 00:14:05,440 --> 00:14:08,240 Speaker 1: that the castle quote should pass from the present family 223 00:14:08,640 --> 00:14:11,400 Speaker 1: whenever the real owner should be grown too large to 224 00:14:11,520 --> 00:14:16,160 Speaker 1: inhabit it. At the beginning of this story, an enormous 225 00:14:16,200 --> 00:14:20,720 Speaker 1: helmet falls from the sky and crushes Conrad. I read 226 00:14:20,720 --> 00:14:22,840 Speaker 1: this in college, and this is the one thing I 227 00:14:22,880 --> 00:14:26,720 Speaker 1: remember about it was the giant helmet. Conrad was about 228 00:14:26,760 --> 00:14:30,440 Speaker 1: to be married to a princess, and that it was 229 00:14:30,480 --> 00:14:35,320 Speaker 1: also his father's only male heir, So Conrad's father tries 230 00:14:35,360 --> 00:14:39,040 Speaker 1: to marry this princess himself, but a series of events 231 00:14:39,120 --> 00:14:41,600 Speaker 1: get in the way of that, some of those events 232 00:14:41,680 --> 00:14:46,160 Speaker 1: involving ghosts and other supernatural occurrences. There's a giant sword, 233 00:14:46,240 --> 00:14:49,480 Speaker 1: and another prophecy, and a big family secret, and the 234 00:14:49,600 --> 00:14:54,240 Speaker 1: castle itself just looms over the whole thing. An eighteen 235 00:14:54,320 --> 00:14:57,280 Speaker 1: eleven edition of The Castle of a Toronto includes an 236 00:14:57,320 --> 00:15:02,320 Speaker 1: introduction attributed to Scottish author, poet and historians Sir Walter Scott. 237 00:15:03,160 --> 00:15:05,480 Speaker 1: Scott said of the novel quote, the Castle of a 238 00:15:05,520 --> 00:15:08,880 Speaker 1: Toronto is remarkable not only for the wild interest of 239 00:15:08,920 --> 00:15:11,960 Speaker 1: the story, but as the first modern attempt to found 240 00:15:12,000 --> 00:15:15,040 Speaker 1: a tale of amusing fiction upon the basis of the 241 00:15:15,080 --> 00:15:18,760 Speaker 1: ancient romances of chivalry. Scott went on to say that 242 00:15:18,800 --> 00:15:21,680 Speaker 1: it had been quote justly considered not only as the 243 00:15:21,720 --> 00:15:25,840 Speaker 1: original and model of a peculiar species of composition, but 244 00:15:25,920 --> 00:15:28,560 Speaker 1: as one of the standard works of our lighter literature. 245 00:15:29,520 --> 00:15:34,080 Speaker 2: Scott also described how Walpole wove together the mundane and 246 00:15:34,120 --> 00:15:35,200 Speaker 2: the spectacular. 247 00:15:35,360 --> 00:15:35,800 Speaker 1: Quote. 248 00:15:36,120 --> 00:15:38,840 Speaker 2: It was his object to draw such a picture of 249 00:15:38,920 --> 00:15:42,960 Speaker 2: domestic life and manners during the feudal times as might 250 00:15:43,000 --> 00:15:47,239 Speaker 2: actually have existed, and to paint it checkered and agitated 251 00:15:47,280 --> 00:15:51,320 Speaker 2: by the action of supernatural machinery, such as the superstition 252 00:15:51,520 --> 00:15:55,240 Speaker 2: of the period received as a matter of devout credulity. 253 00:15:56,240 --> 00:15:59,280 Speaker 2: The natural parts of the narrative are so contrived that 254 00:15:59,320 --> 00:16:03,520 Speaker 2: they so ssociate themselves with the marvelous occurrences, and by 255 00:16:03,560 --> 00:16:08,840 Speaker 2: the force of that association, render those speciosa miraculous, striking, 256 00:16:08,960 --> 00:16:14,640 Speaker 2: and impressive, though our cooler reason admits their impossibility, and 257 00:16:14,800 --> 00:16:17,000 Speaker 2: he ticked off a number of the things that would 258 00:16:17,000 --> 00:16:20,840 Speaker 2: become some of the hallmarks of Gothic literature. Quote his 259 00:16:20,840 --> 00:16:25,560 Speaker 2: feudal tyrant, his distressed damsel, He's resigned yet dignified churchmen, 260 00:16:26,080 --> 00:16:30,080 Speaker 2: the castle itself, with its feudal arrangement of dungeons, trapdoors, 261 00:16:30,400 --> 00:16:35,560 Speaker 2: oratories and galleries, the incidents of the trial, the chivalrous procession, 262 00:16:35,720 --> 00:16:40,080 Speaker 2: and the combat. In short, the scene, the performers, and action, 263 00:16:40,600 --> 00:16:43,600 Speaker 2: so far as it is natural, form the accompaniments of 264 00:16:43,640 --> 00:16:46,760 Speaker 2: his specters and his miracles, and have the same effect 265 00:16:46,800 --> 00:16:49,200 Speaker 2: on the mind of the reader that the appearance and 266 00:16:49,320 --> 00:16:52,160 Speaker 2: drapery of such a chamber as we have described may 267 00:16:52,240 --> 00:16:56,480 Speaker 2: produce upon that of a temporary inmate. The whole point 268 00:16:56,640 --> 00:17:01,160 Speaker 2: in Scott's words was quote not merely to site surprise 269 00:17:01,480 --> 00:17:05,639 Speaker 2: and terror by the introduction of supernatural agency, but to 270 00:17:05,800 --> 00:17:08,959 Speaker 2: wind up the feelings of his reader till they become, 271 00:17:09,359 --> 00:17:12,560 Speaker 2: for a moment identified with those of a ruder age, 272 00:17:13,000 --> 00:17:17,240 Speaker 2: which held each strange tale devoutly true. 273 00:17:17,280 --> 00:17:19,840 Speaker 1: A second edition of The Castle of a Toronto came 274 00:17:19,880 --> 00:17:23,439 Speaker 1: out in seventeen sixty five, and that one revealed that 275 00:17:23,520 --> 00:17:26,720 Speaker 1: Horace Walpole had written it. He had named the Castle 276 00:17:26,800 --> 00:17:28,440 Speaker 1: for a place that he had seen on a map 277 00:17:28,480 --> 00:17:31,680 Speaker 1: of Italy but had not visited during his travels there. 278 00:17:32,480 --> 00:17:34,040 Speaker 1: As we sat up at the top of the show. 279 00:17:34,080 --> 00:17:37,439 Speaker 1: There are other earlier works that contain some elements of 280 00:17:37,560 --> 00:17:40,720 Speaker 1: mystery or horror or the supernatural, like The Castle of 281 00:17:40,760 --> 00:17:44,720 Speaker 1: a Toronto did, but this novel is credited with launching 282 00:17:44,840 --> 00:17:50,439 Speaker 1: Gothic literature as a genre. It inspired works like Anne 283 00:17:50,480 --> 00:17:55,400 Speaker 1: Radcliffe's Mysteries of Udolpho, as well as Jane Austen's Northinger Abbey, 284 00:17:55,680 --> 00:18:01,080 Speaker 1: which satirized this genre and was published posthumously. Elements of 285 00:18:01,160 --> 00:18:05,400 Speaker 1: Gothic fiction also inspired authors and poets during the Romantic 286 00:18:05,480 --> 00:18:09,520 Speaker 1: period that included Mary Shelley with her novel Frankenstein or 287 00:18:09,520 --> 00:18:14,240 Speaker 1: the Modern Prometheus Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights and Charlotte Bronte's 288 00:18:14,359 --> 00:18:18,840 Speaker 1: Jane Eyre. Walpole continued to write and publish other work 289 00:18:18,960 --> 00:18:22,639 Speaker 1: after this. There was an account of the Giants Lately 290 00:18:22,680 --> 00:18:25,360 Speaker 1: Discovered in a Letter to a Friend in the Country, 291 00:18:25,440 --> 00:18:29,000 Speaker 1: which was published in seventeen sixty six, in which Dorothy 292 00:18:29,080 --> 00:18:33,520 Speaker 1: Margaret Stewart said he quote satirized everything and almost everybody 293 00:18:33,560 --> 00:18:38,359 Speaker 1: that he disliked methodism and pedantry, slavery and the Stamp Act, 294 00:18:38,680 --> 00:18:44,040 Speaker 1: Whitefield and the Grenvilles. Walpole also wrote histories, including Historic 295 00:18:44,119 --> 00:18:46,760 Speaker 1: Doubts on the Life and Reign of King Richard the Third, 296 00:18:47,000 --> 00:18:49,720 Speaker 1: which was published in seventeen sixty eight that was a 297 00:18:49,720 --> 00:18:53,000 Speaker 1: more sympathetic treatment of the king and raised doubts about 298 00:18:53,000 --> 00:18:55,760 Speaker 1: whether he had killed the Princes in the Tower. We 299 00:18:55,840 --> 00:18:58,159 Speaker 1: covered the Princes in the Tower in November of twenty 300 00:18:58,200 --> 00:19:02,280 Speaker 1: twenty one year. He also published a blank verse drama 301 00:19:02,400 --> 00:19:05,840 Speaker 1: called The Mysterious Mother a Tragedy, which was a story 302 00:19:05,840 --> 00:19:10,000 Speaker 1: of family betrayal that included a lot of accidental incest. 303 00:19:10,560 --> 00:19:14,040 Speaker 1: He also published memoirs of King's George the Second and 304 00:19:14,119 --> 00:19:17,680 Speaker 1: George the Third, which were essentially political histories of those 305 00:19:17,800 --> 00:19:21,760 Speaker 1: kings reigns. There was even a long essay on modern gardening, 306 00:19:22,000 --> 00:19:24,440 Speaker 1: which started out as part of a collection of essays 307 00:19:24,680 --> 00:19:29,439 Speaker 1: but was eventually printed as its own standalone booklet. I 308 00:19:29,640 --> 00:19:31,800 Speaker 1: wanted to talk more about this essay, but could not 309 00:19:31,920 --> 00:19:35,959 Speaker 1: for reasons. We will talk about on Friday. We're going 310 00:19:35,960 --> 00:19:38,280 Speaker 1: to take a quick sponsor break, and then we will 311 00:19:38,320 --> 00:19:40,720 Speaker 1: talk about some things that happened in the later half 312 00:19:40,800 --> 00:19:54,240 Speaker 1: of Walpole's life. Aside from all the Gothic We're going 313 00:19:54,280 --> 00:19:56,679 Speaker 1: to spend the last part of this episode on some 314 00:19:56,720 --> 00:19:58,359 Speaker 1: of the bigger moments from. 315 00:19:58,240 --> 00:20:02,480 Speaker 2: The later part of Horace walpole life. In seventeen fifty one, 316 00:20:02,640 --> 00:20:07,000 Speaker 2: Horace Walpole's brother, Robert Walpole, second Earl of Orford, died 317 00:20:07,400 --> 00:20:11,960 Speaker 2: and the title then passed to his son, George. Horace 318 00:20:12,000 --> 00:20:14,720 Speaker 2: tried to help find a wife for his nephew, and 319 00:20:14,800 --> 00:20:17,840 Speaker 2: this led to a huge dispute between him and his 320 00:20:18,080 --> 00:20:23,399 Speaker 2: uncle Horace about who George should marry. This was just 321 00:20:23,440 --> 00:20:26,159 Speaker 2: a whole additional drama that we're not going to get 322 00:20:26,160 --> 00:20:28,959 Speaker 2: into the details of. But George was just one of 323 00:20:29,000 --> 00:20:32,040 Speaker 2: the family connections that Horace really tried to help after 324 00:20:32,119 --> 00:20:36,439 Speaker 2: his father's death. That also included financially providing for at 325 00:20:36,560 --> 00:20:39,040 Speaker 2: least two of his father's natural daughters. 326 00:20:40,040 --> 00:20:44,040 Speaker 1: In the seventeen fifties, Walpole also developed gout, which is 327 00:20:44,040 --> 00:20:47,680 Speaker 1: a form of arthritis. Gout is caused by a complex 328 00:20:47,760 --> 00:20:50,840 Speaker 1: process related to how the body breaks down purines into 329 00:20:50,960 --> 00:20:54,560 Speaker 1: uric acid. In some people, uric acid builds up and 330 00:20:54,600 --> 00:20:58,159 Speaker 1: causes crystals to accumulate in the joints, often affecting the 331 00:20:58,160 --> 00:21:02,959 Speaker 1: big toe, and it can be very painful. Sugary beverages, alcohol, 332 00:21:03,080 --> 00:21:06,439 Speaker 1: and some types of meat and seafood are high in purines. 333 00:21:06,800 --> 00:21:09,600 Speaker 1: So for a long time, gout was primarily associated with 334 00:21:09,640 --> 00:21:13,520 Speaker 1: people's diets and their weight. Diet and weight are still 335 00:21:13,560 --> 00:21:16,320 Speaker 1: considered to be risk factors, but gout can happen to 336 00:21:16,359 --> 00:21:19,359 Speaker 1: anyone regardless of what they eat or what their body 337 00:21:19,400 --> 00:21:23,040 Speaker 1: looks like. All of this is connected to Horace Walpole's 338 00:21:23,080 --> 00:21:26,840 Speaker 1: experience with gout. We've talked about his being a really 339 00:21:26,880 --> 00:21:30,439 Speaker 1: slender person, something that people just commented on his whole life, 340 00:21:30,840 --> 00:21:33,640 Speaker 1: But beyond that, he was also known for having a 341 00:21:33,680 --> 00:21:38,240 Speaker 1: pretty meager diet, including in what he served to guests 342 00:21:38,400 --> 00:21:41,360 Speaker 1: at his home. So he just did not fit the 343 00:21:41,400 --> 00:21:45,679 Speaker 1: stereotype of somebody with gout. He referenced this in a 344 00:21:45,800 --> 00:21:50,040 Speaker 1: letter to John Shoot, Earl of Stafford, in seventeen sixty quote, 345 00:21:50,080 --> 00:21:53,520 Speaker 1: I have got the gout, Yes, the gout in earnest. 346 00:21:53,960 --> 00:21:58,120 Speaker 1: I was seized on Monday morning, suffered dismally all night, 347 00:21:58,440 --> 00:22:01,399 Speaker 1: and am now wrapped in fur like the picture of 348 00:22:01,440 --> 00:22:05,879 Speaker 1: a Morocco ambassador, and am carried to bed by two servants. 349 00:22:06,359 --> 00:22:11,600 Speaker 1: You see, virtue and leanness are no preservatives. He also 350 00:22:11,640 --> 00:22:13,760 Speaker 1: wrote about how he would have found it easier to 351 00:22:13,800 --> 00:22:16,760 Speaker 1: bear if there had been a family history of gout. Quote, 352 00:22:17,119 --> 00:22:19,520 Speaker 1: if either my father or mother had had it, I 353 00:22:19,600 --> 00:22:23,000 Speaker 1: should not dislike it so much. I am herald enough 354 00:22:23,000 --> 00:22:26,600 Speaker 1: to approve it if descended genealogically. But it is an 355 00:22:26,680 --> 00:22:29,959 Speaker 1: absolute upstart in me. And what is more provoking, I 356 00:22:30,040 --> 00:22:33,199 Speaker 1: had trusted in my great abstinence for keeping me from it. 357 00:22:33,760 --> 00:22:36,920 Speaker 1: But thus it is. If I had any gentleman like virtue, 358 00:22:37,040 --> 00:22:41,080 Speaker 1: as patriotism or loyalty, I might have got something by them. 359 00:22:41,600 --> 00:22:44,840 Speaker 1: I had nothing but that beggarly virtue temperance, and she 360 00:22:44,960 --> 00:22:47,520 Speaker 1: had not enough interest to keep me from a fit 361 00:22:47,640 --> 00:22:48,240 Speaker 1: of the gout. 362 00:22:49,200 --> 00:22:52,320 Speaker 2: For the rest of his life, while Pole periodically dealt 363 00:22:52,320 --> 00:22:56,720 Speaker 2: with intense pain that sometimes made him unable to walk. 364 00:22:57,560 --> 00:23:01,760 Speaker 2: Gout was really not well understood, and Walpole also did 365 00:23:01,800 --> 00:23:06,840 Speaker 2: not really trust doctors, especially after his father's death. He 366 00:23:06,920 --> 00:23:09,600 Speaker 2: blamed his father's death on the medical care that he 367 00:23:09,640 --> 00:23:13,639 Speaker 2: had received. So Walpole tried to treat the gout himself, 368 00:23:14,080 --> 00:23:18,520 Speaker 2: using tightly wrapped foot coverings made of oiled silk and flannel, 369 00:23:18,800 --> 00:23:22,560 Speaker 2: which he called bouticans, and also soaking his feet in 370 00:23:22,680 --> 00:23:27,200 Speaker 2: ice water. Sometimes. He also visited bath for therapeutic treatments 371 00:23:27,200 --> 00:23:28,240 Speaker 2: in the spas there. 372 00:23:28,920 --> 00:23:32,560 Speaker 1: In seventeen sixty nine, Horace Walpole exchanged a series of 373 00:23:32,640 --> 00:23:36,679 Speaker 1: letters with Thomas Chatterton. Chatterton was a poet and writer, 374 00:23:36,800 --> 00:23:40,359 Speaker 1: and sent Walpole what was basically a fan letter along 375 00:23:40,400 --> 00:23:43,919 Speaker 1: with what he said was a fifteenth century treatise. He 376 00:23:44,080 --> 00:23:47,880 Speaker 1: was hoping that Walpole would become his mentor, and Walpole 377 00:23:47,880 --> 00:23:49,960 Speaker 1: seems to have been interested in this at first, but 378 00:23:50,000 --> 00:23:53,400 Speaker 1: he quickly started to suspect that this document was a forgery. 379 00:23:54,160 --> 00:23:57,680 Speaker 1: For example, it was supposedly dated to fourteen sixty nine, 380 00:23:58,080 --> 00:24:01,040 Speaker 1: but it used rhyming couplets in a ste from Walpole 381 00:24:01,080 --> 00:24:05,080 Speaker 1: in Chatterton's own era. Walpole was also fifty two at 382 00:24:05,080 --> 00:24:08,399 Speaker 1: this point, and he distanced himself from Chatterton when he 383 00:24:08,440 --> 00:24:10,720 Speaker 1: realized that Chatterton was only sixteen. 384 00:24:11,760 --> 00:24:15,840 Speaker 2: So some time passed between their letters, and Chatterton eventually 385 00:24:15,880 --> 00:24:19,840 Speaker 2: wrote to ask for this manuscript back. Walpole didn't send 386 00:24:19,880 --> 00:24:22,040 Speaker 2: it back right away. He was getting ready for a 387 00:24:22,040 --> 00:24:24,520 Speaker 2: trip to Paris, and it seems like he just forgot 388 00:24:24,560 --> 00:24:28,960 Speaker 2: about it. Chatterton later sent him some pretty accusatory letters, 389 00:24:29,080 --> 00:24:32,080 Speaker 2: and Walpole started writing an answer, but he did not 390 00:24:32,320 --> 00:24:34,480 Speaker 2: send it because he did not want to start some 391 00:24:34,600 --> 00:24:39,400 Speaker 2: kind of a big argument. Later on, Chatterton's poetry came 392 00:24:39,480 --> 00:24:41,919 Speaker 2: up at a dinner that Walpole was attending at the 393 00:24:41,960 --> 00:24:46,280 Speaker 2: Royal Academy, and in that conversation, Walpole was stunned to 394 00:24:46,400 --> 00:24:50,000 Speaker 2: learn that Chatterton had taken his own life. A lot 395 00:24:50,040 --> 00:24:54,679 Speaker 2: of people really blamed Walpole for Chatterton's suicide, and afterward 396 00:24:54,800 --> 00:24:57,720 Speaker 2: Chatterton came to be viewed as a poetic prodigy. 397 00:24:58,680 --> 00:25:02,240 Speaker 1: In August of seventeen seventy one, Walpole learned that his 398 00:25:02,280 --> 00:25:06,119 Speaker 1: friend Thomas Gray had died. Afterward, he wrote in a 399 00:25:06,200 --> 00:25:09,920 Speaker 1: letter quote, methinks, as we grow old, our only business 400 00:25:09,920 --> 00:25:12,600 Speaker 1: here is to adorn the graves of our friends, or 401 00:25:12,680 --> 00:25:16,560 Speaker 1: to dig our own. In seventeen seventy five, in the 402 00:25:16,600 --> 00:25:19,600 Speaker 1: early months of the Revolutionary War, he wrote a letter 403 00:25:19,640 --> 00:25:22,200 Speaker 1: to Horace Mann in which he said, quote, you will 404 00:25:22,200 --> 00:25:25,280 Speaker 1: not be surprised that I am what I always was, 405 00:25:25,840 --> 00:25:28,760 Speaker 1: a zealot for liberty in every part of the globe, 406 00:25:29,040 --> 00:25:33,480 Speaker 1: and consequently that I most heartily wish success to the Americans. 407 00:25:34,640 --> 00:25:37,960 Speaker 1: In seventeen eighty, a wave of anti Catholic rioting struck 408 00:25:38,000 --> 00:25:41,200 Speaker 1: London in response to the Catholic Relief Act of seventeen 409 00:25:41,240 --> 00:25:45,120 Speaker 1: seventy eight. This act allowed Catholics who signed an oath 410 00:25:45,119 --> 00:25:49,119 Speaker 1: of allegiance to buy land and join the army. Walpole 411 00:25:49,200 --> 00:25:53,119 Speaker 1: documented this through his letters as well. We said earlier 412 00:25:53,160 --> 00:25:56,479 Speaker 1: that Walpole showed some anti Catholic sentiments in his writing, 413 00:25:56,560 --> 00:25:59,600 Speaker 1: but in these letters he is critical of the rioters 414 00:25:59,640 --> 00:26:03,160 Speaker 1: and their leaders. His letter to the Reverend mister Cole 415 00:26:03,240 --> 00:26:06,120 Speaker 1: set in part quote, I can give you little account 416 00:26:06,160 --> 00:26:10,200 Speaker 1: of the origin of this shocking affair. Negligence was certainly 417 00:26:10,240 --> 00:26:14,840 Speaker 1: its nurse, and religion only its godmother. The ostensible author 418 00:26:14,960 --> 00:26:18,560 Speaker 1: is in the tower. Twelve or fourteen thousand men have 419 00:26:18,720 --> 00:26:21,960 Speaker 1: quashed all tumults, and as no bad account is come 420 00:26:22,000 --> 00:26:24,800 Speaker 1: from the country except for a moment at Bath. And 421 00:26:24,880 --> 00:26:28,119 Speaker 1: as eight days have passed nay more since the commencement, 422 00:26:28,560 --> 00:26:31,600 Speaker 1: I flatter myself the whole nation is shocked at the scene, 423 00:26:32,040 --> 00:26:34,800 Speaker 1: and that if planned there was, it was laid only 424 00:26:34,920 --> 00:26:39,040 Speaker 1: in and for the metropolis. The lowest and most villainous 425 00:26:39,040 --> 00:26:42,080 Speaker 1: of the people, and to no great amount, were almost 426 00:26:42,119 --> 00:26:43,200 Speaker 1: the sole actors. 427 00:26:44,400 --> 00:26:48,400 Speaker 2: I think this rioting might wind up being a episode 428 00:26:48,400 --> 00:26:50,240 Speaker 2: of the show in the future, because it is not 429 00:26:50,359 --> 00:26:54,600 Speaker 2: something that I was even aware had happened. By this point, 430 00:26:54,960 --> 00:26:58,919 Speaker 2: Walpole was in his sixties. Dorothy Margaret Stewart described his 431 00:26:59,040 --> 00:27:02,760 Speaker 2: last years this quote, So violent and so profound were 432 00:27:02,800 --> 00:27:06,000 Speaker 2: the social and political changes that marked his last two decades. 433 00:27:06,560 --> 00:27:10,800 Speaker 2: Walpole took refuge as in a fortress within the embattled 434 00:27:10,840 --> 00:27:15,160 Speaker 2: walls of Strawberry, and felt himself beleaguered there by uncouth 435 00:27:15,240 --> 00:27:20,000 Speaker 2: people and ideas even more uncouth. In December of seventeen 436 00:27:20,080 --> 00:27:24,359 Speaker 2: ninety one, Walpole's nephew George died, having developed a reputation 437 00:27:24,560 --> 00:27:30,080 Speaker 2: for being extravagant, eccentric, and mentally ill. After his death, 438 00:27:30,160 --> 00:27:34,199 Speaker 2: Horace Walpole became fourth Earl of Orford. He described the 439 00:27:34,320 --> 00:27:37,520 Speaker 2: estate and title as quote a source of lawsuits among 440 00:27:37,560 --> 00:27:41,879 Speaker 2: my near relations, endless conversations with lawyers, and packets of 441 00:27:41,960 --> 00:27:45,600 Speaker 2: letters to read every day and answer all. This weight 442 00:27:45,680 --> 00:27:48,080 Speaker 2: of new business is too much for the rag of 443 00:27:48,119 --> 00:27:51,600 Speaker 2: life that yet hangs about me. He never took his 444 00:27:51,680 --> 00:27:56,040 Speaker 2: seat in the House of Lords. Horace Walpole died in 445 00:27:56,080 --> 00:27:59,040 Speaker 2: London at his house there, which was at number eleven 446 00:27:59,080 --> 00:28:03,280 Speaker 2: Berkeley Square, on March second, seventeen ninety seven. He was 447 00:28:03,320 --> 00:28:07,960 Speaker 2: seventy nine. He had dictated an obituary to his secretary 448 00:28:08,040 --> 00:28:11,240 Speaker 2: a couple of weeks before, and it read quote yesterday 449 00:28:11,320 --> 00:28:14,879 Speaker 2: died at the very advanced age, but of between eighty 450 00:28:14,920 --> 00:28:18,960 Speaker 2: and ninety at his house in Berkeley Square, Horace Walpole, 451 00:28:19,119 --> 00:28:22,239 Speaker 2: fourth Earl of Orford, after a severe fit of the 452 00:28:22,280 --> 00:28:24,280 Speaker 2: gout all over him. 453 00:28:24,880 --> 00:28:28,760 Speaker 1: Walpole never married or had children, so his earldom became 454 00:28:28,840 --> 00:28:32,720 Speaker 1: extinct after his death, although it was later revived, only 455 00:28:32,760 --> 00:28:36,320 Speaker 1: to become extinct again. He left his property to people 456 00:28:36,359 --> 00:28:39,200 Speaker 1: he had been close to later in his life. He 457 00:28:39,200 --> 00:28:42,240 Speaker 1: had built a house called Cliveden in seventeen sixty eight, 458 00:28:42,440 --> 00:28:45,120 Speaker 1: named for actor Kitty Clive, who lived there for a time. 459 00:28:45,920 --> 00:28:49,240 Speaker 1: He left it to sisters Mary and Agnes Barry. Their 460 00:28:49,320 --> 00:28:53,240 Speaker 1: father was Walpole's literary executor, but with the understanding that 461 00:28:53,400 --> 00:28:57,520 Speaker 1: Mary would be the ones selecting and arranging manuscripts. There 462 00:28:57,560 --> 00:29:01,040 Speaker 1: had been some rumors that Walpole planned marriage to Mary, 463 00:29:01,160 --> 00:29:04,000 Speaker 1: although at the time he was seventy and she was 464 00:29:04,040 --> 00:29:04,720 Speaker 1: twenty four. 465 00:29:05,480 --> 00:29:07,360 Speaker 2: Yeah, I have no idea whether that was a thing 466 00:29:07,400 --> 00:29:14,080 Speaker 2: that anyone was actually talking about. Whalpole left Strawberry Hill 467 00:29:14,160 --> 00:29:18,320 Speaker 2: to Lady Anne Seymour Damer another person to maybe do 468 00:29:18,360 --> 00:29:21,920 Speaker 2: an episode about sometime. She was his cousin's daughter and 469 00:29:22,000 --> 00:29:25,560 Speaker 2: his goddaughter. She was a sculptor and he was a 470 00:29:25,680 --> 00:29:30,240 Speaker 2: big supporter of her work. He called her a female genius. 471 00:29:30,400 --> 00:29:34,280 Speaker 2: While her contemporaries described her as a saphist, the word 472 00:29:34,360 --> 00:29:39,040 Speaker 2: lesbian wasn't widely used during her lifetime. She did not 473 00:29:39,240 --> 00:29:42,680 Speaker 2: claim the label of saphist, and to be clear, this 474 00:29:42,880 --> 00:29:45,719 Speaker 2: was something other people were calling her in order to 475 00:29:45,800 --> 00:29:48,520 Speaker 2: denigrate her. But it is clear that she had deep 476 00:29:48,560 --> 00:29:53,520 Speaker 2: and loving relationships with other women, including with Mary Barry, which. 477 00:29:53,280 --> 00:29:57,240 Speaker 1: Brings us to Walpole's own identity. Like a number of 478 00:29:57,320 --> 00:29:59,520 Speaker 1: other people that we've talked about on the show, he's 479 00:29:59,560 --> 00:30:02,600 Speaker 1: definitely someone who has a place under the umbrella of 480 00:30:02,680 --> 00:30:07,080 Speaker 1: queer history. But different historians have drawn different conclusions on 481 00:30:07,200 --> 00:30:11,400 Speaker 1: exactly how using today's understanding of things like gender and 482 00:30:11,440 --> 00:30:15,280 Speaker 1: sexual orientation, and this can be difficult to do, both 483 00:30:15,360 --> 00:30:18,160 Speaker 1: because of how people in the past express their thoughts 484 00:30:18,160 --> 00:30:22,360 Speaker 1: and feelings and because as a society, our understanding of 485 00:30:22,400 --> 00:30:27,440 Speaker 1: sex and gender is continually evolving. Some historians conclude that 486 00:30:27,480 --> 00:30:31,960 Speaker 1: Horace Walpole had romantic and sexual relationships with men and women, 487 00:30:32,720 --> 00:30:35,960 Speaker 1: others that he only had them with men, and some 488 00:30:36,160 --> 00:30:39,280 Speaker 1: that he never had a sexual relationship with anyone of 489 00:30:39,320 --> 00:30:40,040 Speaker 1: any gender. 490 00:30:41,080 --> 00:30:45,680 Speaker 2: Beyond the Barry sisters and Lady Anne Seymour Damer. Walpole's 491 00:30:45,680 --> 00:30:49,520 Speaker 2: social circle was full of people who just didn't follow 492 00:30:49,640 --> 00:30:54,680 Speaker 2: conventions about gender and relationships. Accounts of his relationships with 493 00:30:54,760 --> 00:30:57,680 Speaker 2: the men in his life can come across as very campy, 494 00:30:58,160 --> 00:31:01,280 Speaker 2: and a number of essays framed Strawberry Hill as a 495 00:31:01,360 --> 00:31:04,480 Speaker 2: giant closet that he built for himself so that he 496 00:31:04,600 --> 00:31:07,440 Speaker 2: and his friends would have the space to be themselves. 497 00:31:08,200 --> 00:31:11,160 Speaker 2: There are also literary critics who have noted that Walpole, 498 00:31:11,240 --> 00:31:14,440 Speaker 2: who was living outside the bounds of what was expected 499 00:31:14,440 --> 00:31:18,640 Speaker 2: for a man in masculinity, helped launch a literary genre 500 00:31:18,760 --> 00:31:21,000 Speaker 2: that gave a lot of women the space to be 501 00:31:21,120 --> 00:31:24,240 Speaker 2: transgressive in their writing and the relationships that they were 502 00:31:24,240 --> 00:31:28,880 Speaker 2: writing about, including people like Anne Radcliffe, Mary Shelley, Charlotte 503 00:31:28,880 --> 00:31:32,920 Speaker 2: Bronte even more recent writers like Daphne de Maurier, who 504 00:31:33,000 --> 00:31:35,680 Speaker 2: we covered on the show in June of twenty twenty one. 505 00:31:36,680 --> 00:31:40,680 Speaker 2: These relationships included people like Sir Horace Mann, who also 506 00:31:40,800 --> 00:31:44,360 Speaker 2: never married and who raised eyebrows for his friendship with 507 00:31:44,400 --> 00:31:48,360 Speaker 2: painter Thomas Patch, who moved to Florence after being expelled 508 00:31:48,360 --> 00:31:53,360 Speaker 2: from Rome after a charge related to homosexuality. Even though 509 00:31:53,400 --> 00:31:56,480 Speaker 2: Man and Walpole never saw one another in person again, 510 00:31:56,800 --> 00:32:02,880 Speaker 2: their letters suggest a deep connection of something unfulfilled. For example, 511 00:32:02,920 --> 00:32:05,680 Speaker 2: when Robert Walpole's time in the government was coming to 512 00:32:05,680 --> 00:32:09,600 Speaker 2: its tumultuous end, Man wrote a letter suggesting this might 513 00:32:09,640 --> 00:32:12,040 Speaker 2: pave the way for Horace to come back to Italy. 514 00:32:12,760 --> 00:32:15,719 Speaker 2: He wrote, quote, we may be quiet and happy here together, 515 00:32:16,000 --> 00:32:20,440 Speaker 2: far from the insults of saucy, ungrateful people in such 516 00:32:20,520 --> 00:32:24,280 Speaker 2: melancholy circumstances. What a satisfaction would it be to a 517 00:32:24,360 --> 00:32:27,920 Speaker 2: heart that overflows with love and gratitude? As I assure you, 518 00:32:28,000 --> 00:32:31,080 Speaker 2: my eyes at present do with tears. To have it 519 00:32:31,200 --> 00:32:34,400 Speaker 2: in his power to enjoy the only satisfaction it would 520 00:32:34,400 --> 00:32:38,920 Speaker 2: have left. I say no more. You must certainly understand me. 521 00:32:39,600 --> 00:32:43,240 Speaker 2: You have a heart too tender yourself not to excuse 522 00:32:43,280 --> 00:32:47,680 Speaker 2: the want of utterance on such an occasion. So Walpole 523 00:32:47,720 --> 00:32:51,440 Speaker 2: didn't respond to this letter, though, and Man never brought 524 00:32:51,480 --> 00:32:55,600 Speaker 2: this idea up again. But then Walpole did after Man's 525 00:32:55,720 --> 00:32:59,520 Speaker 2: last surviving brother died in seventeen seventy five and Man 526 00:32:59,560 --> 00:33:04,880 Speaker 2: inherent an estate in Kent, So Walpole's suggestion that Man 527 00:33:04,960 --> 00:33:08,880 Speaker 2: might then move to England was not as emotionally charged 528 00:33:08,920 --> 00:33:12,400 Speaker 2: as what Holly just read, although he did say quote, 529 00:33:12,440 --> 00:33:15,600 Speaker 2: I flatter myself this thought delights you as much as 530 00:33:15,640 --> 00:33:18,360 Speaker 2: it does me. I own it was the moment I 531 00:33:18,520 --> 00:33:23,240 Speaker 2: always looked to. But in his response Man pointed out 532 00:33:23,280 --> 00:33:25,480 Speaker 2: a number of reasons that it was just out of 533 00:33:25,520 --> 00:33:28,240 Speaker 2: the question for him, at the age of seventy to 534 00:33:28,320 --> 00:33:32,080 Speaker 2: try to return to England. Their letters make it seem 535 00:33:32,120 --> 00:33:34,800 Speaker 2: like this was an upsetting conversation to both of them, 536 00:33:35,000 --> 00:33:38,080 Speaker 2: but they eventually smoothed things over and they continued their 537 00:33:38,080 --> 00:33:42,600 Speaker 2: correspondence until Man's death on November sixth of seventeen eighty six. 538 00:33:43,600 --> 00:33:47,120 Speaker 2: We've referenced Walpole's letters so many times, and they really 539 00:33:47,120 --> 00:33:50,280 Speaker 2: are one of his biggest legacies, not just because he 540 00:33:50,320 --> 00:33:53,080 Speaker 2: wrote a lot of letters, but because he saw letter 541 00:33:53,120 --> 00:33:56,520 Speaker 2: writing as an art that he tried to nurture and cultivate. 542 00:33:57,280 --> 00:34:00,160 Speaker 2: He intentionally chose to write to people who lived away 543 00:34:00,160 --> 00:34:03,080 Speaker 2: from London, people who would want and need to hear 544 00:34:03,120 --> 00:34:05,520 Speaker 2: the news of the day, so he had a reason 545 00:34:05,560 --> 00:34:08,600 Speaker 2: to document it. He was writing these letters to be 546 00:34:08,719 --> 00:34:12,120 Speaker 2: preserved for later generations, and he kept copies of them. 547 00:34:13,000 --> 00:34:17,319 Speaker 2: One edition of Walpole's Correspondence spans forty eight volumes and 548 00:34:17,360 --> 00:34:22,000 Speaker 2: it's available online at the Lewis Walpole Library at Yale. Yeah, 549 00:34:22,040 --> 00:34:24,759 Speaker 2: to be clear, these are walpoles letters and a lot 550 00:34:24,760 --> 00:34:29,120 Speaker 2: of their responses from other people. Obviously many quotes from 551 00:34:29,160 --> 00:34:33,160 Speaker 2: his letters in these two episodes. Do you have listener 552 00:34:33,200 --> 00:34:34,160 Speaker 2: mail to quote? 553 00:34:34,440 --> 00:34:34,759 Speaker 1: I do. 554 00:34:36,040 --> 00:34:38,640 Speaker 2: We have a listener mail that is also about literature, 555 00:34:38,719 --> 00:34:42,280 Speaker 2: and it is from Cheryl. Cheryl wrote, Dear Tracy and Holly, 556 00:34:42,640 --> 00:34:44,880 Speaker 2: I'm nearing the end of a marathon of listening to 557 00:34:44,960 --> 00:34:47,840 Speaker 2: past episodes starting from as far back as I could 558 00:34:47,880 --> 00:34:50,960 Speaker 2: on my podcast app, and now that the end is 559 00:34:51,000 --> 00:34:55,279 Speaker 2: in sight, literally all remaining episodes to here are on 560 00:34:55,320 --> 00:34:57,920 Speaker 2: the iHeart dot com stuff you miss in history class page. 561 00:34:57,960 --> 00:35:01,040 Speaker 2: I thought i'd write in there have been a number 562 00:35:01,080 --> 00:35:03,880 Speaker 2: of episodes for something one of you said triggered a 563 00:35:03,960 --> 00:35:06,719 Speaker 2: wish to respond, But when the episode in question is 564 00:35:06,760 --> 00:35:09,640 Speaker 2: four to five years old, I just couldn't justify bringing 565 00:35:09,760 --> 00:35:12,600 Speaker 2: up something so ancient. I mean, it's a history podcast, 566 00:35:12,719 --> 00:35:18,360 Speaker 2: but I'm writing regarding a few episodes. I too, just 567 00:35:18,480 --> 00:35:21,840 Speaker 2: read Alex Harro's Starling House, so I found the cave 568 00:35:21,960 --> 00:35:25,759 Speaker 2: Wards episode interesting and timely. Tracy, I think you and 569 00:35:25,800 --> 00:35:28,480 Speaker 2: I have very similar book loves, as Connie Willis is 570 00:35:28,520 --> 00:35:32,520 Speaker 2: another big favorite of mine. Have you read any t Kingfisher, 571 00:35:33,000 --> 00:35:36,279 Speaker 2: which's another wonderful writer. My sourdough starter is named for 572 00:35:36,360 --> 00:35:40,360 Speaker 2: the carnivorous starter in her A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking. 573 00:35:41,000 --> 00:35:45,040 Speaker 2: I have a possible topic for you, street painting. My 574 00:35:45,120 --> 00:35:47,799 Speaker 2: husband and I paint at street painting festivals all over 575 00:35:47,840 --> 00:35:51,480 Speaker 2: the country. It's an avocation, not a vocation, including one 576 00:35:51,560 --> 00:35:54,799 Speaker 2: coming up next month in Marietta, Georgia. Details below in 577 00:35:54,840 --> 00:35:57,480 Speaker 2: case Holly is in town and would like to come see. 578 00:35:57,960 --> 00:36:00,360 Speaker 2: I know the recent history of the art forums, starting 579 00:36:00,400 --> 00:36:04,240 Speaker 2: with the first street Painting festival fifty years ago near Mantua, Italy, 580 00:36:04,320 --> 00:36:06,960 Speaker 2: but earlier than that, I feel I'm repeating hearsay, not 581 00:36:07,040 --> 00:36:09,560 Speaker 2: anything verifiable. I would love to be able to share 582 00:36:09,560 --> 00:36:12,200 Speaker 2: the real history of this art form I enjoy so much. 583 00:36:13,080 --> 00:36:16,719 Speaker 2: Then Cheryl had a link to the festival and some 584 00:36:16,880 --> 00:36:20,840 Speaker 2: other stuff. We don't have any pets, unless you count 585 00:36:20,840 --> 00:36:23,480 Speaker 2: the alligator lizards that row our yards, so for a 586 00:36:23,520 --> 00:36:27,759 Speaker 2: pet tax, I'm sharing photos of my niece's big burnt marshmallow, 587 00:36:27,800 --> 00:36:31,800 Speaker 2: a dog Willow with their new puppy cricket, their farh 588 00:36:31,880 --> 00:36:35,480 Speaker 2: rescue Colby aka the Cheeseman, who has happily adapted to 589 00:36:35,640 --> 00:36:38,680 Speaker 2: inside cat life, where he steals willows food and insists 590 00:36:38,680 --> 00:36:40,839 Speaker 2: that no, he has not been fed second dinner yet 591 00:36:40,880 --> 00:36:43,920 Speaker 2: and you should get right on that this instant. I'll 592 00:36:43,960 --> 00:36:46,560 Speaker 2: also include the neighbor kitty I just met this morning 593 00:36:46,600 --> 00:36:49,959 Speaker 2: because he is so cute, friendly and curious. I'm also 594 00:36:50,000 --> 00:36:54,520 Speaker 2: including a couple of street painting photos just for fun too. Well, 595 00:36:54,520 --> 00:36:58,319 Speaker 2: there's a little addundum about if Holly goes to chok Toberfest, 596 00:36:58,320 --> 00:37:01,760 Speaker 2: which is the name of the street panting festival. Best 597 00:37:01,800 --> 00:37:03,720 Speaker 2: to you both and thanks for the many, many hours 598 00:37:03,719 --> 00:37:08,680 Speaker 2: of enjoyment. Cheryl Cheryl, thank you so much. Personally, if 599 00:37:08,760 --> 00:37:11,399 Speaker 2: somebody writes us about an episode that's four or five 600 00:37:11,480 --> 00:37:15,480 Speaker 2: years old, I have no problem with that, with one caveat, 601 00:37:16,040 --> 00:37:18,880 Speaker 2: which is that if someone asks me a detail about 602 00:37:18,880 --> 00:37:21,600 Speaker 2: that episode from four or five years ago, I probably 603 00:37:21,640 --> 00:37:22,280 Speaker 2: don't remember. 604 00:37:22,520 --> 00:37:25,440 Speaker 1: Gods are good. It is a blur. 605 00:37:26,120 --> 00:37:29,440 Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm probably not gonna be able to answer questions, 606 00:37:29,520 --> 00:37:32,040 Speaker 2: but I do not mind at all hearing about things 607 00:37:32,080 --> 00:37:36,000 Speaker 2: that people may have liked or resonated with or whatever 608 00:37:36,040 --> 00:37:39,080 Speaker 2: from episodes from a long time ago. Question number two 609 00:37:39,320 --> 00:37:42,960 Speaker 2: t King Fisher. Yes, I have read A Wizard's Guide 610 00:37:43,000 --> 00:37:46,600 Speaker 2: to Defensive Baking. I have also read, I think all 611 00:37:46,640 --> 00:37:51,279 Speaker 2: of the currently available books from the Temple of the 612 00:37:51,320 --> 00:37:54,600 Speaker 2: White Rat World. So those are Clockwork Boys and the 613 00:37:54,640 --> 00:37:57,640 Speaker 2: Wonder Engine and Swordheart, and then all the Paladin books. 614 00:37:58,160 --> 00:37:59,960 Speaker 2: If you read these books, you know what I'm talking 615 00:38:00,040 --> 00:38:03,680 Speaker 2: talking about. With the Paladin books, I like them a lot. 616 00:38:05,239 --> 00:38:10,719 Speaker 2: And then we have adorable animal pictures kitty cats and 617 00:38:11,280 --> 00:38:16,520 Speaker 2: puppy dogs. Oh, just a great piece of street painting 618 00:38:16,680 --> 00:38:20,399 Speaker 2: art that has like a three dimensional look to it. 619 00:38:21,040 --> 00:38:24,359 Speaker 2: It looks like a kid in a bathtub with a 620 00:38:24,520 --> 00:38:28,440 Speaker 2: cat who is stalking the rubber duck that has fallen 621 00:38:28,480 --> 00:38:33,480 Speaker 2: on the floor. What's this next one? Oh? This is 622 00:38:33,520 --> 00:38:38,840 Speaker 2: another very like. Imagine a child who has turned a 623 00:38:38,880 --> 00:38:42,960 Speaker 2: cardboard box into an airplane, being flanked by a dog 624 00:38:43,000 --> 00:38:45,319 Speaker 2: in a cardboard kit box and a cat in a 625 00:38:45,360 --> 00:38:48,759 Speaker 2: different cardboard box. And we have a kitty cat in 626 00:38:48,800 --> 00:38:49,240 Speaker 2: a tree. 627 00:38:49,560 --> 00:38:52,920 Speaker 1: So cute. I love all of these. I will note 628 00:38:52,960 --> 00:38:55,960 Speaker 1: this will air after the fact that I will miss 629 00:38:56,040 --> 00:38:59,359 Speaker 1: choctober Fest this year. I think I only made it 630 00:38:59,360 --> 00:39:03,000 Speaker 1: to like one because there is also it's one of 631 00:39:03,000 --> 00:39:06,800 Speaker 1: those things where because it's fall. Oh sure, every municipality 632 00:39:06,840 --> 00:39:09,840 Speaker 1: is doing fall festivals and I am. I already promised 633 00:39:09,840 --> 00:39:12,800 Speaker 1: to do some stuff close to home and one of mine, 634 00:39:13,040 --> 00:39:15,440 Speaker 1: so yeah, because I don't live in Marietta. 635 00:39:16,120 --> 00:39:18,480 Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, thank you, thank you, Thank you Cheryl for 636 00:39:18,520 --> 00:39:21,600 Speaker 2: this email and the pictures and all of that. If 637 00:39:21,600 --> 00:39:23,440 Speaker 2: you'd like to send us a note or at history 638 00:39:23,560 --> 00:39:27,359 Speaker 2: Podcasts at iHeartRadio dot com, and you can subscribe to 639 00:39:27,480 --> 00:39:31,759 Speaker 2: our podcast on iHeartRadio app or wherever else you'd like 640 00:39:31,840 --> 00:39:39,360 Speaker 2: to get your podcasts. Stuff you missed in History Class 641 00:39:39,400 --> 00:39:43,440 Speaker 2: is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, 642 00:39:43,600 --> 00:39:47,160 Speaker 2: visit the iHeartRadio app Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen 643 00:39:47,239 --> 00:39:48,200 Speaker 2: to your favorite shows.